Machine for making bottle-seal stoppers



2 sheets-sheet 1.

(No Model.)-

E. v. CLEMENS. MACHINE FOR MAKING BOTTLE SEAL STOPPERS- No. 557,554. Patented Apr..'7 1896.

192w?! awM UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST V. CLEMENS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE DE LA VERGNE BOTTLE AND SEAL COMPANY, OF NEXV JERSEY.

MACHINE FOR MAKING BOTTLE-SEAL STOPPERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 557,554, dated April '7, 1896.

Application filed June 13,1892. Serial No. 436,626. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST V. CLEMENS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Making Bottle-Seal Stoppers, &c., of which the following is such a full, clear, concise, and exact description as will enable others skilled to in the art to which my invention appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

The improvements have especial relation r 5 to machines for cutting bottle-seals having a central plug which, when displaced, permits the stopper to collapse during its extraction from a bottle. These seals are usually cut from a sheet or strip of rubber provided with an impervious facing, and in such case an uncut portion of the facing forms a lip or hinge by which the plug afterbeing displaced still hangs to and is removed from the bottle along with the rest of the stopper. A proper 2 5 construction of machine for manufacturing plug-seals at a single operation, which is very desirable in order to secure expedition and economy, requires an avoidance of several complications and difficulties. A double cutter may be made to perform the work with great efficiency; but it is necessary to prevent clogging and breaking of the tools, a certain result if the binding propensities of the rubber be not overcome.

3 5 The principal object of this invention is to provide a cutting-tool adapted to meet the requirements which the development of this art has made practically essential.

The invention consists in the construction and arrangement of the several parts and combinations of parts, as hereinafter more fully described, and pointed outin the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation, partly in section, of a portion of a press or machine embodying the improvements and showing a series of cuttingtools for stamping the seals from the rubber. Fig. 2 shows a tool-stock and tool removed from the machine. Fig. 3 is a central longi- 5o tudinal section of the same, and Fig. 4 an enlarged central longitudinal section of the outer and inner tools and of the outer toolstock and a portion of the inner tool-stock. Fig. 5 is a view of the cutting part of the inner tool, showing the slotted portion which leaves an unsevered lip or hinge, by which the plug re mains attached to the seal. Figs. 6 and 7 are perspective views of the product, the former showing the seal as it comes from the machine and the latter the same with the plug pushed through and hanging by the hinge or lip. In the drawings, A represents a gearing rigidly mounted on a shaft B, which is rotated by a corresponding cog-wheel or gearing connected with a power-shaft. (Not shown.) On the shaft B two cams O and O, the latter being represented in section, are'rigidly secured and by means of pins 0 and c operate two rods d and d, which extend up and are made fast to the upper cross-head D. This crosshead is guided and moves on the supporting-rods E and E, (shown as being broken away just below the lower cross-head D,) to which are fixed the rods a and a, attached at 7 5 their lower ends to the pins 12 and 12 on the ends of the shaft B, which is turned off to make the pins 1) and b eccentric and operate as cranks. The cams C and Oand the cranks or eccentric-pins b and b impart motion to the cross-heads D and D, respectively, their movements being timed with relation to each other by the arrangement of the cams and eccentrics on the shaft 13, to which motion is transmitted by the gearing A. 8 5

The cutting-tools work in pairs, the one which cuts the plug being disposed to operate within that which makes the peripheral incision. The outer tool f is preferably screwthreaded at its upper end, so as to be removo able from its stock g, which at its upper end is also threaded for a considerable distance and screwed into the lower cross-head D, as shown in Fig. l, and the stock 9 is made fastin the cross-head by a lock-nut h. An annular 5 presser-foot 2', over which the outer tool has a limited sliding movement, is interposed between the outer and inner cutters and is guided and stopped by scre wsj working within slots through the outer tool, as shown in all f cuts through the same.

the figures. A spring t is placed above the presser-foot 7;, being dropped in place and held by the lower head of the stock 9 when the tool f is screwed into the same. The tension of the spring t" is such as to keep the lower face of the annular presser-foot flush with or a little below the cutting edge of the tool f, so that it bears upon the rubber in the first instance and with increased force as the tool The tension of the spring '11 is such as to bear upon the presserfoot and hold the seal firmly in place while the tool is receding from the incision in the rubber. Before the resser-foot i has lost its hold upon the seal the inner cutting-tool commences an incision which forms the plug.

The inner cutting-tool is of practically the same formation as the outer tool f, eX cepting a slot 70, extending a short distance up from its cutting edge, and this slotted part leaves an unsevered portion of the material which forms a hinge or lip by which the plug is attached to the body of the seal and prevented from dropping into the bottle.

The upper end of the tool 71) is threaded and screwed to the lower section of its stock 1, which is made in three parts and extends up through the stock 9 of the tool f and through an opening in the lower cross-head D. The upper sect-ion of the stock I, to which the middle section is screwed, is in turn screwed to the upper cross-h ead D, from which the inner tool receives its motion. A rod m, the lower end of which also forms a presser-foot, eX- tends up within the inner tool, being threaded at its upper end and provided with a nut above the upper end of the tool. The lower section of the stock Z is hollow and contains a spring 0 having its lower bearing upon the nut 12 and its upper bearing against a nut 19, which is screwed into the upper end of the lower section of the stock 1, thus completing the same and keeping the spring 0 in place before the lower section is made fast to the middle section. The nut 19 also allows of some regulation of the tension of the spring 0 independently of the adjustment of the sections of the stock.

The cutting-tools are preferably made both adjustable and removable. The outer tool f and its stock g, as well as the stock Z of the inner tool, are provided with adjustingflanges, as 0' r, 850., having apertures for receivin g an instrument by which they may be turned and regulated with relation to each other, as well as to compensate for wear and grinding of the cutting-tools.

The sheet of rubber F is passed into the machine under a guide G and on a cutting block 11. The guide Gprevents the sheet of rubber from springing or bending upward as it is being fed to the machine, and is provided with apertures through which the cutting-tools pass to and from the rubber. The machine being started, the first action of the crank-shaft B is to bring the outer cuttingtools onto the rubber by means of the eccentrics b I), which actuate the rods a a, attached to the lower cross-heads, to which these tools are fixed. As soon as the outer cutting-tools have made an incision and while receding from the rubber the inner cutting-tool and inner presser-foot are brought by the upper cross-head and its connections with the cams C and C on the shaft 13 against the seal-blanks left by the outer tools and the further downward movement of the inner cutting-tools forms the plugs in the seals, after which the inner tools recede and the seals thus completed are removed from the machine.

It is obvious that the inner cutting-tool may be made so as to sever the plug entirely from the body of the blank, and with such construction the machine is adapted to the manufacture of washers, packing-rings, &c., as well as seals.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a machine for cutting bottle-seals, &c. a tool for severing the blanks from suitable material, an annular presser-foot inside of such tool, a spring bearing against said presser-foot a smaller cutting-tool within the presser-foot, and a second presser-foot inside of the smaller tool and a springbearing against said presser-foot in combination with mechanism for actuating said tool.

2. In a machine for making bottle-seals, &c., the combination of a tool for severing a blank from suitable material, a movable cross-head to which said tool is attached, a smaller cutting-tool and a second movable cross-head to which the same is attached, in combination with mechanism for imparting motion to the cross-heads.

ERNEST V. CLEMENS.

W'itnesses:

GEo. RICHMOND, OWEN V. nucleus. 

